At her last ice dancing competition of the 2016 spring season, teenager Sadie Woodruff of North Canton captured No. 1 in the Midwest at her level. The next day, Sadie lay in an ambulance speeding to Akron Children’s Hospital, with second-degree burns on both feet. She and her younger sister had been making beignets in […]

Stella Miller knew things felt scary and uncertain when she began having seizures and was undergoing testing for an eventual epilepsy diagnosis in August of 2016. The then 8-year-old was in the hospital for an EEG and overnight stay and, then suddenly, a small rainbow-colored Beanie Baby given to her by a nurse brought her […]

Our daughter Autumn was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in January 2017 at only 5 months old. That night our whole world was flipped upside down and we had no idea what to expect. When we took her in, they didn’t think she would make it through the night, but our girl showed her strength […]

What’s in a number? Well, if you’re 12-year-old Devyn Emmons, it’s time. Time spent at Akron Children’s Hospital. The number “43” is how many surgeries he’s had to date with more on the way. “I’m not sure why I started counting in the first place,” said Crystal Emmons, Devyn’s mom. “When he was in the […]

Matt and Mallory Beres keep a large black-and-white photo taken shortly after their 9-month-old son, Fitz, emerged from surgery in December. In the photo, Mallory is hunched over a hospital crib cocooning Fitz, who had been under anesthesia for 8 hours as surgeons reconstructed the front of his skull. Mallory wanted to make sure Fitz […]

Third-grader Layla Popik bounded through the front door of her suburban Cleveland home after the school bus dropped her off. She settled in at the kitchen table with a juice box and an iPad, and chatted easily with her parents, as if she’s been doing this forever. Adopted from China just over a year ago, […]